The head of PlayStation is leaving Sony (SNE)

Andrew House PlayStation

Andrew House, Sony's global chief executive for the PlayStation business, is leaving his role at the company, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

He will stay on as chairman until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition, while his deputy Tsuyoshi "John" Kodera will take over.

In 2011, Kazuo Hirai stepped up from his role at PlayStation to become CEO at Sony, and House — who began his career at the firm in 1990 — took charge of the gaming business.

He eventually became the global head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, a relatively autonomous, California-based subsidiary handling both PlayStation and Sony Network.

In recent years, House oversaw the launch of the PlayStation 4, one of the most successful consoles of all time, and strengthened Sony's position as a leader in the gaming industry, outselling Microsoft's Xbox One almost consistently two-to-one.

"I'm tremendously proud of what we've built with PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment," House said in a statement. "PlayStation has been a huge part of my life for more than 20 years but with the business having achieved record-breaking success, now seemed to be the right time for me to pursue new challenges."

A Sony spokesperson told the WSJ that House is planning to spend more time with his family, and that he will eventually return in the entertainment industry.

"I'm extremely grateful to Andy for the great contribution he has made to evolving the PlayStation business, and firmly positioning it as one of the drivers of our future growth," CEO Hirai said.

Kodera, too, is a long-time Sony employee, having joined himself in the early 90s. He has most recently worked to bolster Sony's network services, like PlayStation Now and PlayStation Vue, which are a huge source of revenue for the company.

In a statement, he said: "I intend to build on the amazing progress Andy has made enhancing the PlayStation brand and expanding the game and network services businesses."

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